


Coffee, Confessions, and Questionable Morals

by Occamaestro



Series: To marry Tomarry (is a difficult task) [8]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: :), Cute, Fluff, M/M, Tomarrymort Valentines Exchange 2021, this was supposed the be more valentines-y but whatever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-16 15:00:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29826702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Occamaestro/pseuds/Occamaestro
Summary: Harry is a lowly Coffee shop owner. Tom is CEO of Morsmorde, the best pharmaceutical company in Britain. They're both huge fans of the Evans Gryffindor series.OrIn which the author tried to add more background to this premise, failed, and then rewrote it so it was all fluff.
Relationships: Harry Potter & Tom Riddle, Harry Potter/Tom Riddle
Series: To marry Tomarry (is a difficult task) [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2112675
Comments: 6
Kudos: 15
Collections: Tomarrymort Valentines Exchange 2021





	Coffee, Confessions, and Questionable Morals

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Somnos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Somnos/gifts).



> <3 This took so long you have no idea <3

“Hey, Tom.” Harry greeted, hanging Tom’s coat on the hook parallel to the door quickly and efficiently. 

The bell tinkered softly as yet another customer passed through the Cafe. Usually, Tom only showed up at ‘The Marauder’ when it was relatively empty, giving Harry the perfect chance to talk to him. Now though, it seemed he had come either too early or too late and, paired with the fact his coffee shop had gotten an insane amount of traction lately, Harry was sure that he’d be busy throughout all of the visit. He chewed the inside of his cheek nervously. 

“Hello, Harry.” Tom greeted, eyes still glued to his phone screen.

This was not an uncommon occurrence. 

Harry sighed as he guided his friend- well, at the very least acquaintance, Tom had been coming to his cafe since it had been a tiny broken down place- to his usual booth, and when Tom hovered, never sitting down, smacked him on the head with a menu. 

Tom ignored him. Harry rolled his eyes. As Harry waited, however, his worry began to surface. Harry started to tap his anxiously on the hard plastic. Had he gone too far? A moment before Harry broke down apologizing, Tom resurfaced, sitting down gracefully and slipping his phone- top of the line, of course, he was a wealthy CEO after all- into his pocket.

“Draco’s gone, he’s taken his two weeks of vacation leave, said something about a ‘Valentines cruise’.”

Harry stayed silent as he poured Tom a cup of water. He didn’t know why, but Tom had always felt obligated to keep him on top of his colleagues’ annoying habits, and even though he knew Tom couldn’t  _ possibly  _ know about Draco, Hary still felt that familiar and annoying stab of pain he always felt when his ex was brought up.

Harry felt happy for Draco, honest. They had been very close throughout school, and only recently after their somewhat rocky romantic relationship, had they fallen out. Harry didn't blame Draco much though. Draco had gotten demoted and drunk, and words had been said. Harry was somewhat lonelier now, but at least Tom still visited. 

“And, along with that, Karkaroff quit!”

“It might have to do with the fact you’re a literal demon. ” Harry suggested, chuckling half-heartedly as he wiped the table down. 

Tom’s lips tilted slightly downwards at the horrible joke and Harry felt a sudden wave of guilt. He hadn’t meant it to come off as mean… 

“Harry!” Ginny yelled as she passed up, arms full of Valentine confections on heart-shaped plates. “Get to work!”

Harry looked apologetically at Tom, who waved away his unsaid apology.

“Well, I hope-”

“Harry! Work, now!” 

“Coming!” Harry replied testily, shooting a final smile at his friend. 

“Happy Valentines,” he murmured, “and I’m, uh- I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings. With the joke thing, I mean. It, um, might’ve been in bad taste.” 

And then he was off, grabbing his notepad off the table and hastily scribbling down orders as he zigzagged through the cafe.

Every time Harry crossed back and forth through the small shop, however, his eyes wavered, always drawn back to Tom. He was still sitting in his perfect little manner and was, best of all, alone. Harry smiled again. 

“Someone’s got a crush.” Ginny singsonged.

Harry coloured, puffing his cheeks indignantly. 

-oOo-

“Hi!” Harry’s crackly voice reverberated, again and again, further proving the horrible quality of his wifi.

He cringed slightly, wishing he could switch out his low-quality internet to something at least  _ marginally _ better. 

Harry knew there wasn't much point, though, what with him using the  _ actually functional  _ cafe wifi most the time. 

Honestly, the only occasions he  _ ever _ used the sucky wifi at Grimmauld was for his bi-monthly calls with Voldemort. Harry preferred to be at home during those times. No matter how proud of his writing he was, he was perfectly contented with keeping his two lives- one online as ignotus_peverell, a semi-popular fic writer for the Evans Gryffindor series, and Harry James Potter, a lowly student right out of college and running his godfather’s old cafe- apart, thank you very much. 

“Hello.” Came Voldemort’s curt reply. 

Suddenly, Harry felt immensely out of depth. Voldemort had sounded...  _ tired _ , and, most of all, very much unlike his usual put-together self. Should he ask about it? 

Before the silence could grow too dense, Harry took a self-conscious breath. 

“Voldemort, are you okay?” He asked somewhat nervously, biting the inside of his cheek once again.

Harry knew that he and Voldemort had gotten pretty close over the months, what with Voldemort’s _ frankly amazing _ pieces of fan art for his fics having sparked regular discussions about both art and writing. Still, he wasn’t sure if he was pushing too far. Voldemort had always had a sort of  _ cold _ feel to him, kind of like how Tom had been at the beginning of their acquaintanceship.

A sigh echoed through the feed

“Two of my co-workers left, one handed in their holiday leave and one their resignation. I’m stuck working late, sorry if I sound tired.” 

Harry’s frown deepened. That sounded oddly like Tom's problem. Almost  _ eerily similar _ , to be honest. Could Tom and Voldemort work at the same company, or perhaps the same department? Harry’s eyebrows knitted together, thinking. 

After a moment, it clicked. Tom  _ was _ Voldemort.  _ Tom Marvolo Riddle,  _ CEO of  _ Morsmordre _ , the best pharmaceutical company in the  _ entirety of Britain _ , was Voldemort. Suddenly, both parties (only one party, Harry amended,) frankly  _ strange _ obsession with anagrams started to make perfect sense. 

How could Harry have missed it? The quips, the same smooth accent, even if it had been partially masked by his lousy internet quality. Everything started to match up in Harry’s head, making him feel so remarkably stupid for not realizing it sooner. 

He looked back to his computer, and, somewhat unfortunately, became eerily aware of the awkward silence reverberating in the voice chat. Harry cringed. 

“Uh- sorry- I have to go-”, Harry apologized quickly.

Voldemort sighed, unaware of Harry’s current situational crisis.

“It’s fine, I have to finish up a few things as well.”

A pause.

“ _ Talktoyoulatergoodbye _ !” 

“Goodbye,” 

The line went silent. 

Harry breathed a sigh of relief before closing his tabs and then his computer. After he did so, he buried his head in his hands. Now that he knew that Tom was Voldemort… Well, Harry felt immensely guilty for keeping his own identity secret.  ~~ Not to mention his gigantic crush on Tom had now moved down in priority .  ~~

As Harry often was when faced with guilt, he knew the number of days he withheld this information would also be the number of days he would go sleepless. 

He needed to tell Tom; and quickly, at that. 

-oOo-

“Hey, Tom, I have something to-”

“Hello, Harry.” Tom greeted, unintentionally cutting off his horribly timed confession. “I hope you had a good day because I sure didn't.”

Harry sighed, resigned to his other job as Tom’s therapist. (Secretly, though, he enjoyed being the one Tom confided in. It made him feel important. Made him feel like he was more than  _ just Harry _ .)

“-and when I told him that he had to finish the job before leaving he scoffed.  _ Scoffed _ .”

Suddenly, Harry had an idea. Perhaps blunt confessions weren’t what they were cracked up to be. 

“Wow, that sounds really bad, almost like you’re the  _ chosen one _ for bad luck-” 

Tom froze. Harry cringed. That had sounded better in his head.

“Aaaanyway-” Tom continued, “So I said-”

“Sorry-” blurted Harry, who was very close to winning the medal for ‘worst timing’. “I’ll  _ Neville _ do that again.”

Tom blinked, incomprehension clouding his reddish-brown eyes. Harry’s resignation quickly took over his initial embarrassment. He sighed. This was going to be harder than he thought.

-oOo-

After a week, Harry had tried  _ everything _ , and he meant  _ everything _ , to tell Tom about him being Ignotus Peverell. And every time,  _ every time _ , Tom had either deflected or completely ignored him. As he sat in front of his computer, cracking his knuckles, he finally smiled. He couldn't be blunter than this. 

That day Harry spent the entire audio call with Voldemort- no, Tom, smiling. Soon, his secret would be spilled.  _ Finally _ .  ~~ He couldn't wait for his crush to become his most important problem again. Oh, the good old days.  ~~

**Comments on: Coffee, Cafe, Confessions (Telling the Truth)**

**Number_one_fan said:** **OMG I LUVV <3333**

**Vain_as_Romilda said:** **Good fic but isn’t it a bit…. Unrealistic? I mean, I know its a fic, but seriously, how could Lord Slytherin miss all of Evan’s confessions?**

**Ignotus_Peverell said:** **You’d be surprised ;)**

**Fanboy_4eva said:** **OMG I LOVE U!!!!**

**Vain_as_Romilda said:** **OMG YOU REPLIED!!!**

**Biblio said:** **SO GOOD!!! ROUTING FOR LS/EG <3**

-oOo-

“Harry!” 

Harry looked up at the noise. Sure enough, it was Tom, wearing his normal work suit and a smile brighter than any star. Harry found himself smiling just as brightly, cheeks tingeing a pale pink. 

As Tom waved his phone in front of Harry’s face, Harry felt a bubble of hope. Had Tom finally realized? As the conversation continued, however, the bubbles of hope died down, leaving Harry somewhat disbelieving.  _ How _ . How was it even possible for anyone,  _ anyone _ , let alone Tom Riddle, CEO of Morsmordre incorporated, have not picked his secret up yet? He wanted to rip out his hair. Unfortunately, he was still currently on his work shift, and keeping up the illusion of sanity was, unfortunately, one of his job requirements. 

“So,” Harry said, clapping his hands in faux cheer. “Have you read any good fanfics recently?” 

Tom cocked his head before giving a sparkling smile. “I have. In fact, Ignotus_peverelles Coffee Shop AU was very good.”

Harry choked on his spit. “Did you, um, relate to that fic at all?” 

Tom blinked, confused. Harry died inside. 

“You know what!” Harry yelled, startling the far and few customers that were at the cafe, “I am OUT!” 

From behind the kitchen door, a muffled voice could be heard. 

“Remember to check out your shift before leaving!”

Harry’s eye twitched. He practically threw his apron off as he stomped to the back room. When he threw open the back door, however, Tom was still waiting for him.

“Harry, is something wrong?” Tom asked seriously. It made Harry want to scream again. 

Harry’s voice went up an octave. “ _ Wrong!? Why would anything be wrong!?” _

Tom looked into Harry's eyes and placed his hands on Harry’s shoulders.

“Harry, does this have anything to do with you being Ignotus Peverell?”

Harry choked and his eternal madness shrivelled. 

After a moment, he sighed. “So you knew the entire time?” 

Tom’s smooth voice chuckled. “Darling, with the number of hints you were dropping, a Gryffindor could have figured it out.”

“Hey!” said Harry indignantly, cheeks colouring. “I  _ am _ a Gryffindor!”

“And that” Tom purred, “Is precisely why you never figured out that I already knew.” 

Harry rolled his eyes. Acutely aware of the pink that still tinged his cheeks. 

-oOo-

“Draco,” Tom purred into the phone. “Get back here, your absence is no longer necessary.”

“Yes, My Lord”

Tom smirked, it was times like these that being both a CEO and an underground crime boss really paid off.

“Oh- and if you ever talk to Harry again… well, let's just say, I’ll be very creative with your punishment.”

A gulp.

“Yes, My lord.”

“Good.”

And with a confident click, Tom ended the call. He had Harry to visit. 


End file.
